Queen's Football wins 117th Yates Cup; first championship in 16 years

Queen's Football are Yates Cup champions! Queen's jumped out to a big first half lead powered by their defence, and held on to defeat the defending champion and host Laurier Golden Hawks 30-27 in Waterloo, Ont. Saturday to claim the conference title. Saturday's Yates Cup championship was Queen's Football's first since 2009, when the team won the Yates Cup and went on to win the Vanier Cup.

"It's a great group of human beings all the way through the entire department, the entire football program," said Queen's Football Head Coach Steve Snyder. "They care so much. They have been through a lot. Everybody's got their own story and they stay committed. The commitment and resiliency and emotional toughness of this group is unlike any group I've ever been around.

"I'm just happy for Queen's," Snyder continued. "I'm happy for Kingston, Ont. and all of our alumni and all of our students, all of our supporters. This is for everyone that's ever put on the Tricolour, and that's ever laid a brick to the foundation to what is now the 2025 team. We've got a lot of amazing supporters, great alumni. The guys that I've coached since 2019, this is for them, because they helped build this. This team finished it off but there is a lot of people that built this thing up, including Linda Melnick, our Executive Director."

Queen's led the Golden Hawks 27-3 at half time after the defence held Laurier in check and intercepted OUA First Team All-Star quarterback Cal Withers five times.

Linebackers Justin Pace (Economics) and Jacob Baldwin (Arts & Science) recorded two interceptions each, while defensive back Keegan Vanek (Arts & Science) added one. Pace returned one of his two interceptions to the house for a pick six.

"It means everything," Pace, who was named Player of the Game, post-game. "I came to Queen's for one reason only and it's to win the Yates Cup and the next games after. To see these guys get rewarded after all these years, it's amazing!"

Quarterback Alex Vreeken (Kinesiology) accounted for two touchdowns in the first half, connecting with receiver Cedric Smith (Arts & Science) for a 10-yard score in the first quarter before keeping the ball and finding the end zone on an eight-yard run in the second quarter. Vreeken finished the game 16-27 for 169 yards and a touchdown.

Kicker Tyler Mullan (Arts & Science) connected on a 35 and 46-yard field goal in the first half for Queen's.

The Golden Hawks made a big comeback in the second half, scoring 10 points in the third quarter and 14 points in the fourth quarter. Queen's added a field goal to their lead, with Mullan connecting from 36 yards out to increase Queen's score to 30.

Laurier had a chance to tie late in the game, but Queen's defence came up big once again, sacking Golden Hawks QB Withers before breaking up a pass on third down to take over on downs. Running back Jared Chisari (Graduate Studies) iced the game with two runs for a first down, enough for Queen's to run out the clock. Chisari finished with 61 yards on 15 carries.

With the win, Queen's advanced to the Mitchell Bowl in Saskatchewan next weekend. 

"We got another week in us," Snyder ended. "I think we've got two, possibly. We're going to enjoy this and then we'll re-set and we'll stay steady."